POTC: The Mists of Time
by Depp Fiction
Summary: Follow a young girl, Astrid, who escaped from a London orphanage to disguise herself as a young boy, Gaspard, to only then follow her dreams of sailing beside Captain Jack Sparrow and the rest of the POTC crew. Filled with adventure, humor, and more ... this new epic twist to POTC is bound to have you hooked!
1. Chapter 1 (Intro)

A young girl shivered in the corner of the desolate room. Clean beds surrounded her as snow fell from the old roof into the carved-in names of the children that she once knew. She peeked through the hole in the wall near the head of her bed where she would watch the London people live their lives. She would see the baker sell his bread from dawn till dusk and she'd notice how some men would wear uniforms and would hold muskets. Mothers would hold her children's hands and she'd see the pretty girls wear new dresses and how the boys would give them flowers. She was the only one left, the one that no one wanted. It had been fifteen years of waiting but no one came.

She had asked the old orphanage maid what her name is for, Mr. Lock, the orphanage ruler, was mean and strict. The old maid would respond, "A _beautiful_ name". She wondered who her parents were and if they were alive still, for children had told her that their own parents had gotten killed or had died. If they were alive, she wondered what they did. She imagined her mother very beautiful and her father by her side though she wondered why she wasn't there with them.

On her tenth birthday, the old maid had bought the little orphan girl a book after many years of learning how to read loose papers around the orphanage. The book was to be banned for the ideas it was filling children with, but the old maid responded to the book seller by saying, "This is for a poor small child who has seen the world through a hole".

On Christmas Eve that year the old maid had died while reading the book to the young orphan girl. From then on the book was more than special to her. Her head spun for years straight over the book and its adventures she longed to experience. She would be kept in that old building for fifteen years until she would decide to escape for good.

She took her book from under her grimy pillow and cradled it lightly on her fingertips while she waited for Mr. Lock to leave for his morning stroll. "Written by Elizabeth Swan Turner" she read aloud. She would think to herself about how pretty Elizabeth was in real life and how she longed to meet her. Then she would read aloud the title, "The Legends of Captain Jack Sparrow". She closed her eyes and imagined what the ocean smelled like for that was where she would be heading. And she imagined a ship waiting for her on the dock with her dreams.


	2. Chapter 2

The orphanage burnt down in silence. Heat rose to the young girl's face as if hanging over a giant boiling pot of spinach. The book shook in her hands as she waited for the 9 bell tolls from the clock shop outside her little hole above her bed. A pair of footsteps rustled below her bed on the floor below her. They were heavy and giant strides towards the orphanage door. Mr. Lock was leaving for his daily walk out in the town.

The door opened. And shut.

The young girl shot up from her bed and ran towards the exit of the girls' dormitory. Passing all rows of the clean white empty beds against the musty dark floor. She swung around the banister outside the door frame and down the creaky stairwell. The boys, three floors up, peeked over the banister and began to howl in rage for her punishment.

Her bare feet hit the last step and she flung herself towards the front door. She could hear the nurse and cook head her direction. The young girl's heart pumped out of her throat. Hot sweat poured down her cold shivering body. The front door was locked. The boys roared and a stampede of footsteps shook the stairwell above her. The chandelier in the foyer swayed. The boys' voices became louder.

The young girl clutched her book and ran deeper into the house with another idea in mind. She couldn't remember what hallway lead to what room or even the exit. She took a dark hallway and smelled rotten carrots and saw a dim light reflected off of pots and pans in one room which flashed past her. Where was the back door? All the doors she tried were locked. Her head spun in nausea.

She could feel London vibrate through the walls. She could see the ship on the ocean. She saw herself approaching the man she longed to meet, Captain Jack Sparrow. So many adventures, thrills, and excitement awaited her. She wanted out.

Finally, she saw daylight through an old glass door. Locked. But she kicked it till it shattered.

The London's crisp air shot her. Snow drizzled from the sky and the whiteness of the streets and sky blinded her eyes. She heard the familiar stampede and hopped down the old stairs and into London itself, burying her identity in the crowds.

People rushed past her with bags. Some smelled of lavender or mint while some smelled of liquor and mud. They walked jumbled in groups. They laughed and smiled while occasionally a woman would slap a man and kick him. Craziness mixed with innocence. Horses trotted past with gold carriages and hungry dogs would bark at the butcher for food.

Then it hit her. What if Mr. Lock saw her outside of the orphanage? She ran towards an abandoned alley and pried the book from her hands. She flipped to the first dog-eared page.

_"As a young lover, attempting to become apart of a crew to find Will, I dressed as a man. I had to sneak into a local pub and make myself known to the pirates. I had to show them who I was and that I could live the life on the sea"_

The young girl's eyes shot wide open. She stood in the alley and frantically searched for a pub or some kind of drunkard. Finally she noticed a man cradling a chicken mumbling a song in an intersection. She grabbed her courage as well as her breath.

"Sir?" The young girl asked. Feeling small as always.

The man danced with the chicken. The young girl wondered if he was so drunk he couldn't hear her or if he was ignoring her all the way.

"Sir!" She said louder and clapped her hand.

The drunk man fell back along with his chicken which squalled in rage.

"Never clap ye' hands to a drunkn' man!" He said, "That's how Liza and I ended!"

"Where is the nearest pub? I need to go there for an interview" The young girl said, keeping her eyes on the crowds, wondering if Mr. Lock had seen her.

"Why's that? A young female like ye'? Some young prostitute!" He laughed.

"I'm not a prostitute and this is very important!" The young girl demanded.

The drunk man met eyes with the young girl and nodded. He picked up his raging chicken and directed her to the nearest pub. He noticed the book she cradled next to her chest.

"I was a pirate once miss," the drunk man said, "now look what happen' to me?"

The young girl stopped dead in her tracks.

"You're a pirate?" She said. Wide eyed.

"Was" he corrected, "And there aren't many female pirates sailin' these days. Too hard. And you're too young. So I better not leave ye' here. Where did ye' come from?" The drunk man said outside the pub. A big breasted lady had just pushed another drunkard off the side of the porch.

"I am old enough. What does it matter if I'm a woman? I came from an orphanage and you're not taking me back there!" The young girl ordered.

The drunk man had sadness in his eyes.

"Cut ye' hair and get some clothes from the bin inside the door next to the prostitute's rooms. Lower ye' voice like a young man. Don't mention that Captain Jack … cause you'll sure get it coming." The man said, and then he left her.


	3. Chapter 3

The young girl walked into the pub. The smell of urine, alcohol, and body odor filled the air. Candles dripped from the undergarment covered chandelier. Pieces of broken chairs and torn clothing littered the floor. About seven fights were going on in one corner while another corner held about ten.

Many nasty and dizzied looks were forced upon the girl as she stood confused in the pub doorway. Women walked in loose showy clothing tempting to reveal their goods to the drunken men, even to the girl. There was a stairwell towards the back of the pub that seemed to lead to a secret inn. Prostitutes.

The stairwell was littered with women in animal hides and corsets holding men in positions that would cause serious pain in the morning. Sure enough, men's clothing was strung out all down the stairwell and off the banister. While the young girl shifted through the dirty clothes a prostitute eyed the young girl with a sneer.

"And what the hell do you think you're doing little girl?" She said, grabbing the young girl's hand with her red painted nails. The girl could smell liquor in the woman's mouth.

"I'm in need of clothing for a job" The young girl said firmly.

"I do _jobs_ at least twenty times a day" The woman smiled, but her hand slipped from the banister which had held her up and the she tumbled onto the girl. With breasts half coming out of the woman's corset the orphan scooted off with the dirty clothes in her hands, wide eyed and disgusted.

The girl headed towards the alley to change and while passing a table she grabbed a knife that had been left on a nearby table.

(A few minutes pass)

A few moments later a young boy walked into the pub in oversized clothing and a knife, which he sat down on a nearby table. He held a book which he flipped open to a certain page and read …

_"In the far back corner of the pub there sat a table with a line of men in front of it. That is where I signed to become a pirate" _

The boy's eyes looked far into the pub and saw glowing candles. He sat up and made his way there, almost tripping over a passed out man. There was a table but no line of men. A middle aged man with dark hair and a mustache sat at the table, his feet in a bucket of water. Neither paper nor pencil had been set out for any man to sign.

"Sir, are you looking for any work on board?" The young boy said his voice low. He was holding the book and pointed at the drawing of a ship on the cover.

The man's eyes widened.

"Elizabeth?" He gasped loudly. The pub quieted down for a couple of seconds but the fights started back up afterwards. The man didn't seem to notice and still stared in shock at the cover. He finally had to sense to grab it out of the young boy's hand.

"What is it father?" Another boy said from behind him who walked from the shadows. The boy was quite handsome and resembled the man's ambition and stance.

"Look!" The man said and pointed at the author's name.

"Mum?" The son said, laughing in shock.

"I'm Will Turner!" Will laughed while he flipped through the pages.

The young boy almost lost his grip on the table and his foot accidently kicked the bucket of water which Will's feet sat in.

"I'm so sorry- I- I didn't know I- would meet you- you!" The young boy stuttered, wide eyed. "I'm looking for Captain Jack Sparrow. A man told me not to speak of him here … but you seem to know him?" The boy asked.

Will laughed warmly and so did the boy. "It's really great how you put the Captain to that!" And Will laughed once more. "But at the moment I do not know where _he_ is … like any other. He comes and goes as he pleases you see? Don't worry about the water. Once we get on board it'll go. Wouldn't you mind giving me a hand here? We're going to have to take a carriage down to the docks, son, so please get someone out in the alley ready?" Will said with a smile, his eyes twinkling with the candles.

"You mean I am going with you?" The boy said, stunned.

"Who wouldn't want to meet such a man? I wouldn't mind seeing him myself again!" And with that the three … boy, father, and son carefully walked out the back door with the bucket.

"And what is your name young lad?" Will asked as he got positioned into the carriage.

The boy's face froze.

"Gaspard Lautrec" The boy stuttered as he had just read a name that had been carved into the brick wall of the pub. "Gaspard" then hopped into the carriage with the two others and with that the horses trotted off to the dock ... leaving behind a pile of long hair and girlish clothing.


	4. Chapter 4

The carriage drove off as "Gaspard", Will, and his son stood on the dock, with Will balancing himself once again in the bucket of water. The sun was setting in the West and clouds roamed overhead promising rain. The waves hit the rocks and sprayed the ocean water onto the three in rhythm to the ocean's beating heart. Gaspard eyed the ocean as if it was the most beautiful thing he had ever seen. He noticed how the sun sparkled against the waves and how he knew it glimmered to the awakening stars above.

"Now," Will said turning to Gaspard, "you must realize that it will be no ordinary ship"

"Of course sir," Gaspard said "like any other ship on the sea"

Will and his son glanced at each other and exchanged quiet smiles.

"Let me see your book young Gaspard" Will said, as Gaspard immediately searched his oversized coat for the book. When he retrieved it after many many moments Will once again laughed at the cover and joked of Elizabeth's idea of such writing. "Let's see let's see" Will said as he flipped here and there back and forth searching for a certain page. He let out an "ah" when he found what he needed.

"See here," Will said as he pointed at a line of text, handing the book back to Gaspard.

_"When Jack stabbed the heart, Davy Jones fell into the sea, dead. His heart and only meaning of life gone. Since Davy had stabbed my love, Will … Will had to take Davy's place. Though every pirate knows Will would not be as cruel and evil as Davy was. Davy's crew was freed from the curse. But Will was then passed the leadership which meant he could not step on land, and that he and his crew had the ability to live underwater." _

"Will, please demonstrate" Will chuckled.

With Gaspard realizing that Will had passed down his own name to his son, Will's son grabbed a hand full of the water from Will's bucket and threw it out to sea. A distant rumbling occurred but grew. The vibration made the rocks on the beach plop into the water and the dock creaked as if to give in. Gaspard clung for his life on a wooden plank.

A giant ship emerged from the settled ocean, spraying and shooting tons of water from its insides. The ship's color was black as night and the head of it somehow resembled an alligator. Gaspard stumbled back in amazement, whispering quietly to himself, "The Flying Dutchman" though Will and his son only talked on estimation on how much air the ship had gotten when it shot up … even giving a thumbs up to the crew which laughed on board.

"We've been waitin' for ye'!" A man yelled from the deck.

"That's my father. He's William the first, I'm William the second, and my son is the third. But people just call my father Bootstrap Bill" Will explained as he waved to his father.

"We've got company!" Young Will shouted and with that a small boat was lowered into the water.


End file.
